Review: Expressvu External Hard Drive 9242 HD PVR (Part 2)

Posted by Steve McGrath

The software v182 is now out for 1 month. It's clear that the Expressvu External Hard Drive 9242 HD PVR is not stable at all in this first version. Many reported on having troubles including me. Here are a few bugs reported:

  • Unable to play from the EHD

  • Unable to restore back program to the 9242 HD PVR from the EHD

  • The EHD becomes disconnected. Must do a reset(press power 10 sec.  on the 9242 HD PVR) to be able to see it again




Even with all this bugs, I decided anyway to fill my LaCie 750GB with programs/movies(mostly HD). Since it was a test, I did not mind losing the content.  The theoretical hours in HD was 100hrs.

The last time I checked the number of hours in HD, I already had 99h30 or so of programing on it excluding the SD(20hrs+).  I had to select all and then deselect the SD to see how much hours I had. I recorded more since because I had 150+ hours in my last select all. I did not check for HD or SD at that time.

Today, I finally was able to reach that goal by filling the EHD to capacity with maybe 15 minutes still left.

But here is the kicker: I can't see my recording because the 9242 HD PVR is rebooting every time I try to access the EHD menu. Now, I'm stuck with a EHD that's fill to capacity or a brick.

So, even if it's Sunday, I decided to call Bell and at least report this possible new problem.  While I was talking to the tech, he confirmed that a new version was being tested because I asked him. It was not a surprise to me. Hopefully, this will correct the previous bugs and my new bug too. I will update this post if I get news from them.

Don't be shy to report problems too. That's the only way for them to get corrections done. It's my programmer side talking here but If I don't know  that something is wrong, how can I fix it?

If you have filled your hard drive to capacity(any size), you may want to leave a comment if it worked or not. This may help others and the tech to discover a pattern. .

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Keywords: 9242, BEV, EHD, Entertainment, Expressvu, external, HD, High definition, PVR, Review, Technology, Television, USB2


40 Comments

Mini-Review: Expressvu External Hard Drive 9242 HD PVR
[...] Review: Expressvu External Hard Drive 9242 HD PVR (Part 2) [...]

Michel Boileau
Thanks for your post.

Steve McGrath
I'm heard that a new version of the software would be available at the end of October. True or False, I hope they fix it quickly.

Mark Dubois
At first I had 250G EHD attached to 9242 PVR. It worked great. The HD was filled up very quick. So I decided to upgrade to 500G HD. Then I had the problems. It could not restore back the movie, it could not fast forward >x8. The error message was USB disconnect.

Steve McGrath
Hopefully, Bell TV should have Firmware update at the end of the October.

Allan Holman
I just filled my EHD to capacity, not expecting there to be a problem, but I cannot access it anymore. The reciever simply resets everytime. I will be calling Bell shortly to see if a solution is available.

Steve McGrath
Allan,

Allan Holman
I called Bell and I was told that it was the hard drive. After reading this site, I am convinced that it is not the hard drive. I sent a message to Lacie as well, hoping that they can verify that it is on ongoing problem with Bell. After all, Bell directed me to them so I would think that they are seeing a lot of these complaints as well. Maybe Bell will listen to them.

Steve McGrath
Don't bother, it's not the hard drive. Many returned their HD for nothing. LaCie don't support PVRs but only computers uses.

Greg
I actually called Bell last night @ 20:50 after reading of the exact same behavior (on this site) - filled the 750 GB LaCie HDD (not sure exactly how full because now any attempt to access it results in the PVR rebooting. Spent 11 mins on hold then put on hold again, spent another 5 mins on hold then was asked what type of HDD.

Steve McGrath
"who said they had “never” heard of this behavior"

Michael
I am not sure if this means anything to anyone but....this problem kind of makes sense to me.

Steve McGrath
I understand what you are saying.

Michael
I wonder if there would be a way of partitioning the EHD, so this wouldn't happen. Maybe that would be the fix from Bell.

Steve McGrath
It's not a solution since the bug will be divided in 2 ;)

Michael
Sorry, that isn't what I ment. If the drive was partitioned in a way so you couldn't fill it to the brink......say maybe protect 10 gig or so......you wouldn't get this problem.

Steve McGrath
If I go like I mentioned before, it's not a physical drive capacity issue. You would had the same trouble when writing the table of content but sooner. :(

Mark Dubois
Here is an update for the problem, the following HD I have tried out:

Steve McGrath
Mark: Did the Maxtor 750G still okay? I wanted to give you a few days

Review: Expressvu External Hard Drive 9242 HD PVR (Part 3)
[...] part 2, I described most of the troubles I had so far with the Expressvu External Hard Drive 9242 HD PVR. [...]

Steve McGrath
I wrote an update with the new firmware(v183):

merv
what type of remote does the 9242 hd pvr use uhf?

Steve McGrath
Merv, the 9242 uses 2 remotes. 1 IR for the TV1 input(main) and one UHF for the TV2.

Kman
Has anyone tried to use a Western Digital 1T mybook as a drive and is the system capped at 750g only? Great thread!

Steve McGrath
Kman: I see none answered. I recall reading some using 1GB drive. The drive must be a single drive and not 2x500GB. This might had change with the last version.

Jean C.
I took a brand new spare virgin drive from my servers backup store -- slipped it in a Vantec Enclosure then connected it USB2 to a #6131HD receiver. The enclosure was switched ON and the receiver was turned back on , it recognized the drive instantly -- and put it's own format in.

Steve McGrath
Jean,

Rob Craig
Great thread. I have had the same issues. Filled the 750GB lacie and then the system started re-booting. Bell sent a new PVR 9242... I tried to use the lacie to access the 63 movies I have stored, and I got error 788 - this HDD is not configured for use with this receiver... I was reluctant to press "yes" as I thought it would re-format. The techs told me it should work... in frustration about two months later and on my 3rd PVR I finally pushed "yes" I then watched a movie last night from the HDD. Now today, the unit has started re-booting again over and over and over.... Techs don't know what to do about it, and don't phone back when they promise to investigate and call back. Now I'm so frustrated I may change providers....

Steve McGrath
I feel for you Rob.

Chuck
Well guys, I'm feeling your pain. I have a 1T WD hard drive hooked up with a PVR 9242 and it's now full. I didn't realize it would be a problem but the same as many here, when I try and access the EHD it just keeps rebooting my PVR. Needless to say I'm not impressed and will contract BEV tomorrow. Reading this blog though I'm a little (a lot?) concerned that this has been a known issue for while and BEV had still not fixed it.

Steve McGrath
Sad to read this but I stopped calling a long time ago.

JaysFan2
Using a Comstar 500GB attached to a 9242, I had very infrequent issues with freezing. I did fill it to capacity though, and the receiver re-boots now when I try to access the EHD.

Guy
Seems this Hard drive issue isnot on Bell expressvu's list to be corrected and the only solution is to not use the external hard drive.

Bob
Same story here. Lacie 750GB with 9242 PVR approached capacity, now keeps rebooting. Called Bell. They said to compact the manufacturer of the HD......DoooHH !!

Rob Craig
On the third replacement PVR the hard drive started working... except Bell billed me for not returning the second PVR, which their technician took. The newer 9242 worked with our original 750GB lacie hard drive, however, 5 months later and no refund, so we have switched to Shaw. Too bad, because we had 64 movies saved on it...

tony
Bought the 9241 Hd PVR and the Western Digital 500GB hard drive that they now recommend and sell instore. The two work seamlessly and have not found one problem. Absolutely love the combination and the great recording quality which even beats my older 9242.

Steve
Top item on my Christmas wish list this year is that I had read this before I filled my EHD, as like others it just reboots every time I try to access it. Funny how you do not know the problem exists till you have the problem, then ya Google it, too late. As Tony states "i unplug my drive when not in use and it works like a charm when i plug it back into the wall." I also unplug mine and have had no problems using it for way over a year until now when I filled it up. How could a programmer at Bell miss that one for all the $'s they make on this stuff. It is not the Hard Drive or the company that made the drive this is a Bell programming problem. Imagine if this happened with these same hard drives used on a computer instead. Image if Dell told you that you have to buy their external hard drives.

Vincent
Same here. I filled up my 1TB Comstar HD and now I can't acces it. I obviously read this thread too late but before calling Bell. I wasn't surprised to talk to someone who was unaware of that problem and who made me waste half an hour trying to unplug and plug everything to fix the problem. After being put on hold 3 times, he finally came back to me saying that his supervisor was aware of that problem and that there is nothing else to do but to reformat the HD. Thank you Bell. I still wonder why I stick with them...

Vincent
It worked! I brought my external hard drive to a computer repair and asked him to deleate about 50gig from my 1tb HD, using LINUX. Once the job done, everything was like before, except for some 6 or 7 hours of recorded programs missing. It cost me 40$. Bottom line, one should always leave about 10% of free space on a HD. This is nothing new to people knowledgeable in computers, but to me and many others this is something I wish I was told before.

Darkev
Well we are now on software version v185 with the Bell 9242 PVR and it's still not working correctly with external hard drives. I have a 1 TB Western Digital WD10EADS hard drive in a NexStar CX enclosure. The screen show I have 133 hours left. Yet after putting only 15 hours worth of content onto the drive it starts acting up. The EHD shuts down constantly now on the 9242.

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